Far from the Crystal Empire, to the east of Our Town and the east of Ponyville and the east of everywhere else in Equestria, there was an ocean. Not a river like you could find near Ironridge, not a glacier like you could see from Icereach, but a sea: water as far as the eye could see, stretching the length of the continent in one direction and the width of the Aldenfold in another. Its waters ranged from slate gray to turquoise blue by clime, played host to gloomy doldrums and towering storms, to muggy tropical winds and clear ocean skies. The sun smiled on its whitecaps by day and the moon kissed the masts of schooners by night, its rays refracting off them like second sails.
Near the center of those waters, closest to the Aldenfold yet far from any land, an archipelago graced the waters, sitting atop a tropical confluence that graced it with white sands, sapphire waters and a sky so blue it was almost teal. The islands existed in varying degrees of settlement, the largest sporting heavy development and others maintaining their forests, vines hanging from the densely-leaved trees.
On the most populous beach of the most populous island, ponies splashed and played, sunning themselves with reckless abandon. Concrete embankments had been set up where the sand gave way to turf, guarding against erosion and giving a home to infrastructure such as benches and trash cans. And one of those trash cans suddenly shook, rattled... and with a cough of purple chaos magic expelled four ponies out onto the embankment.
"Well," Larceny said, her fluffy bathrobe looking garishly out of place against the glaring sun and frolicking beachgoers. "This is a change of pace."
"Kinmari Marine Research Academy," Papyrus declared, drinking deep of the salty air and feeling it caress the roof of his mouth. "Home to a sporty Equestrian party school, and - relevantly to us - the last place I laid eyes on your frumpy sister."
"Felicity was here..." Senescey said, squinting against the sun. "I can see it. She always did have a soft spot for the resorts of the Goldoa Coast."
"So much water," Braen breathed, fixated on the sea. "Are we on an 'island'?"
"Oh! I suppose this would be new to you, wouldn't it?" Papyrus swaggered. "Living your whole life in Ironridge and whatnot. Don't get used to it. I have a compelling reason to finish our business in this place as quickly as possible."
He glanced back at the trash can, an artsy, wicker-like lattice of iron strips acting as a holder for a more mundane bin. Discord peered over the rim, lurking within.
"We can count on you for a ride back out, right?" Senescey asked, keeping a wary distance.
"Depending on the Lord of Chaos is a risky gambit," Discord mused from within, sounding intrigued. "I suppose it wouldn't be sporting of me to leave you here without warning, but the only reason I brought you here in the first place was because waiting a month for you to steal an airship and fly it here on your own sounded boring. Tell you what: finish your business here, come up with your own way to wherever you're going next, and I suppose I'll bail you out again if it's shaping up to be equal parts foolproof and mundane. Toodles!"
He climbed back into the trash can, and was gone.
As if a magical field had fallen, ponies started to notice them. The beach wasn't truly packed, but its population had increased noticeably over the scant few minutes they had been there, as if they had arrived right as classes were letting out for the day. And while Papyrus blended in perfectly with the exclusively young and mostly athletic crowd, Larceny and Braen were drawing stares.
"So nice of him to drop us in the middle of the action before we could come up with a plan," Papyrus whispered to Senescey. "Tell you what, you get Miss Bathrobe out of the limelight here and I'll wing it until we can regroup and discuss how to pick up Felicity's trail. We'll meet up near the hospital, wherever it is. Got it?"
"Hospital?" Senescey raised an eyebrow.
"Felicity was basically an invalid," Papyrus quickly explained. "If anywhere has records of her, it'll be there."
Senescey nodded, agreeing with his assessment. And not a moment later, she and Larceny were gone.
"Right, so," Papyrus whispered in Braen's ear, though he wasn't sure if that was actually where her auditory sensors were. "Kinmari. Island college school thing. Probably the worst possible place in Equestria for me to be recognized, but also the easiest for me to blend in. Our story is that we're prospective students and you really like armor, and if anyone finds out you're not just a kid in a suit we say I'm a prodigy and your inventor. Time's up, play along!"
"Hey, Slick," said the first of the students to approach, a macho stallion leading a cadre of giggling mares. "Nice costume you got, there. That an in-house job?"
Papyrus leaned casually against Braen, sizing the stallion up. Obviously a social kingpin to afford an entourage that big. Challenge him to establish dominance? Ideally, they wouldn't be here long enough for that to matter...
"You big fan of armor too?" Braen asked cheerfully, still talking like a yak. For the life of him, Papyrus couldn't figure out why.
The stallion did a powerful flex. "Name's Blasting Cap, president of the mining and blacksmith's club. You kids from College Town? Didn't know we had any noteworthy hammers there."
"Prospective students, actually," Papyrus preened. "Ran off from our tour. I don't suppose an upstanding leadership stallion like yourself would cut our fun short and drag us back into town, would you?"
Blasting Cap tilted his head, clearly unable to parse out Papyrus's contradictory tone and words. "Are you asking for directions, or trying to see how we feel about breaking the rules?"
His mare squad backed him up with sage nods, but an impatient pony in the crowd pressed, "Where'd you get the cool armor!?"
Papyrus smoothly stepped in front of Braen, waving a humble wing. "This, my friend, is an ultimate weapon that will save the world in a time of dire need. You there! Biceps!" He flung a hoof in Blasting Cap's direction. "You've got some meat on your bones. I challenge you to a lifting contest, you versus Braen. Or anyone else who wants to see for themselves if this is a mere costume."
Blasting Cap raised an eyebrow. "Real armor's heavy. The closer it is to the real thing, the less you can bench."
"Then it should be easy pickings for anyone who wants to make themselves look good," Papyrus said, bowing with a salesman's smile. "Riiight?"
"Lift!" someone in the crowd cheered, and soon a chant was struck up.
"Well, if you insist," Blasting Cap said, shrugging. He stepped onto the concrete embankment by the trash can, then nodded to his entourage. "Ladies?"
As they assembled into an upside-down pyramid, causing Papyrus to wonder if this wasn't mere eye candy for an influential stallion but actually a gymnastics team, Braen came up beside him. "What is point of contest?" she asked in his ear.
"Easy," Papyrus whispered back. "You lift me, overdo it a little, pretend to have an accident, and boom, I'll pretend to be injured and they'll drag me to the hospital. Hup hup!"
"If Papyrus insist..."
Blasting Cap struck a pose, daring Braen to one-up this. So, with a single leg, she seized Papyrus, reared back, and hurled him over the hill like a feathery missile.
Braen and the crowd watched him go. "Oops," Braen said.
Blasting Cap's jaw hung askew.
"He'll be fine," Braen promised. "Probably."
Papyrus was, in fact, fine, but only because he had the reflexes to right himself and brake his fall. Not that it served his ends to let the crowd see that. So he lay on the ground in a heap for them to find, yowling his head off.
A sizable crowd crested the hill, though most of them stopped there as onlookers. To his credit, Blasting Cap led the charge.
"Are you alright, dude!?" he asked, Braen hot on his heels.
"I think I dislocated my spleen," Papyrus wheezed, sporting a few purposefully-bent pinions. "Don't worry yourselves, nothing I don't suffer from Corsica on a daily basis. Owow owwww..."
"Corsica?" Blasting Cap glanced at Braen.
"Not her. Marefriend of a friend. Really has it out for me for some reason." Papyrus feebly waved a hoof. "Ow. If anything's broken, my old man's gonna kill me... You guys don't have a place I could get patched up in secret, do you...?"
"Well, there's the hospital," one of the acrobat mares offered.
"Perfect," Papyrus groaned, moving a wing and feigning a wince. "Anyone feeling charitable enough to point the way?"
"Do you need a stretcher?" another mare asked. "I can run for-"
Braen grabbed him by the tail and slung him on her back like a sack of meat. "Papyrus overreacting," she promised the crowd as he yowled again for effect. "Have no fear. Which way is hospital?"
"I can... show the way..." Blasting Cap volunteered, uncertain."
"Capital," Papyrus whined. "Let's go with that, please..."
Minutes later, the trio had cleared the beach, and the air became quiet enough to talk again. Papyrus's memories of Kinmari weren't all that helpful for getting a sense of the island's layout: though they were clearer than he preferred, he had been catatonic for most of the visit, and barely explored beyond one or two buildings.
From the position of the sun, he guessed they were on the island's eastern shore. The middle and south of the island were mostly empty turf, alternately flat and hilly, sporting extensive running trails, sunbathing spots and open-air sporting venues. All the buildings he could see lined the west and north edges, and Blasting Cap seemed to be leading them north... That clicked with something in his memory. The hospital was probably in the north. That made sense.
"You're not actually hurt, are you?" Blasting Cap guessed, paying attention to Papyrus as Braen carried him with a bounce in her step.
"Is it that obvious?" Papyrus winked. "You lot obviously wanted a show."
Blasting Cap shook his head. "Kids these days. Are you really prospective students? You look a little young for that. And are you still trying to find the hospital, or...?"
"Yes, yes, and I'm actually in my mid-thirties," Papyrus smoothly said. "So what's worth talking about around here, Biceps? Gimmie some gossip. Old scandals, new scandals, the works!"
Blasting Cap gave him a look that was even more unconvinced. "...What's this school's basic reputation?"
Papyrus sighed. "Sports, parties, sunny beaches and cutting-edge theoretical physics. Big fan of science, me. Though I'm a bigger fan of drama."
"You don't say?" Blasting Cap looked at him a little longer, then shrugged. "Well, the old joke is that half the ponies here think K.M.R.A. stands for Kinetics, Mathematics, Rocketry and Astrophysics, the other half thinks it's Kissing Makes Romance Awesome, and both are right. Anyone seriously here to learn science is here for one of two things: building vehicles that can take ponies into extreme conditions like the seafloor or outer space, or running experiments that can only be done in places like those. And don't take this personally, but I hope you're good at that. Because you don't, uhh... seem like the type who will have much luck in the dating pool."
Braen prodded Papyrus. "See? It not just Mother who tell you that. Or Other Mother. Or Corsica. Or-"
"Oh, shut up," Papyrus grumbled. "What about, uhh..." Was there anything more productive to steer the conversation toward? "What about literally anything that's good to talk about, here? What do you tell the bright-eyed newbies who come tumbling in through your doors?"
"You're kind of weirding me out, buddy," Blasting Cap said. "If you're not really hurt, I think I should be taking you to the administrative office instead. Let somepony who's on payroll deal with this? I've got some friends to be hanging out with..."
Suddenly, a pegasus dropped out of the sky. Colored just like Papyrus and appearing in her mid-thirties, he was certain he had never seen her before, but when she spoke, it was undeniably Senescey.
"There you are!" she hissed, eyes sparking. "Papyrus, if you've been making trouble for the students..."
Blasting Cap looked relieved. "You his mother, ma'am?"
Senescey nodded. "I don't know what he's dragged you into, but I can take this from here."
Blasting Cap nodded and strolled away, aiming for the beach and walking quicker than necessary.
The moment he was out of earshot, Papyrus mouthed, "Hey there, mommy dearest."
"Call me that when we're not putting on an act, and I will hit you," Senescey warned, furling her wings. "I trust you've shaken the crowd by dragging your reputation through the dirt to ensure they want nothing more to do with you?"
"More or less." Papyrus slid off Braen's back and landed on his hooves, finally straightening his feathers. "You?"
"Nehaley is safe and comfortable," Senescey said. "Let's learn what we came here to learn and get out. Your plan?"
"Hospital." Papyrus pointed at the building in the distance he by now thoroughly remembered. "Find records. When Starlight and her crew dragged me through here, Felicity was largely sedentary from her constitution issues, and pregnant to boot. They got me looked at, and I was their enemy, so she would have gotten the same."
Senescey nodded. "Are you smart enough to leave this in my hooves, or are you getting involved too?"
A memory twinged in the back of Papyrus's mind as he stared at the hospital. "I'm considering it," he said. "You're good at what you do, but sitting back is boring... I suppose we'll see."
They walked closer, and the further they went, the more Papyrus couldn't shake the feeling that the sky was darkening. The hospital took up more and more of his vision, its three stories looming above him.
Brick walls. Crenelations. Sliding windows. Its bottom floor was a different color than the top two floors, orange above and blue below, which should have been bright and bold colors. But there was something off about them, like a tiny needle stuck into his head. A current of emotion rose up in his memories, usually safely sealed and separated as if they belonged to someone else, accessible to his mind for convenience only. But now...
Despair. Self-loathing. Directionlessness. Loss.
Papyrus felt like he was on a rickety catwalk above a rushing dark river, its tide slowly rising. Just before the surface could brush his hooves, he closed his eyes, blotted out the vision, and tore his gaze away from the building.
The sky quickly returned, and the caustic memory returned back behind a layer of glass where it belonged.
"Papyrus is alright?" Braen asked curiously.
Papyrus shook his head. "Of course I am. Don't be ridiculous."
Senescey glanced over at him.
"I'm perfectly fine, as always," Papyrus sighed, holding a hoof to his forehead. "Just have a little history with this place that wasn't my brightest hour."
Senescey hesitated. "Which means...?"
"That I suppose I'll stay out here and make you do the dirty work after all." Papyrus gave her a beatific smile, chancing another look at the hospital. When he felt the same symptoms threaten to rise up once more, he flicked his gaze away.
"That's not how I meant the question," Senescey said, annoyed.
"But it does mean you don't have me compromising your stealth mission!" Papyrus gave her a cheery wink. "This island's full of horny college kids, they'd be a fool not to have a gynecologist on staff for when the inevitable happens. Just break into their office, find their records, bag everything from the year 985, and Bob's your uncle."
"...Whatever you say," Senescey said, shaking her head and changing her disguise to look more like she was twenty. "I'll be back."
And so Papyrus settled in to wait. Braen was visible and conspicuous, but fortunately most of the ponies heading into or out of a hospital had good reason not to loiter, and so no one stopped to ask about her.
He waited. And he waited. And he started to get bored.
"Doing nothing?" Egdelwonk asked, wearing his pony guise and strolling up behind them.
"Productively so," Papyrus replied, finding that he was perfectly fine as long as he didn't look at the hospital. "At this very moment, my most competent minion is looting all the information you refused to tell us because 'it would be more boring that way.' So, clearly, I'm having the most engaging time of my life and am not at all bored."
Egdelwonk smiled a bit too broadly.
"You're about to make me an offer," Papyrus guessed, having seen that smile before.
"More like give you some food for thought," the trash tyrant said. "How would you like to see what she's up to without actually being there in person?"
"That sounds more like an offer than food for thought," Papyrus pointed out.
Egdelwonk curled his lip indignantly. "I didn't offer to give you such a way. Merely asked how you'd like it!"
"Sounds interesting," Papyrus admitted. "Provided it doesn't make me think too much about the last time I was in this building."
Egdelwonk yawned. "Sounds like a 'you' problem. Supposing such a scrying magic did exist - I mean, obviously it does, because I can use it, but bear with me for now - what do you think could have been going through the head of the one who invented it?"
"Fifty-fifty on something degenerate or looking for a political edge," Papyrus said without even bothering to think.
"Really." Egdelwonk lowered his shades, peering at Papyrus over the rims. "And which one of those motivations matches someone like me?"
Papyrus blinked at him, then sat back again. "For entertainment."
Egdelwonk's grin returned. "Ah, but wouldn't it be so much more entertaining to go there in person? If that's why I'm scrying, why stop there?"
"Are you trying to convince me to head on in after her?" Papyrus raised an eyebrow.
"If that's how you want to interpret it, be my guest." Egdelwonk folded his forelegs. "I prefer to think of this as laying the groundwork for an important lesson for your career in the Junior Dumpster Despot Corps, but if you're not yet motivated enough to keep your quasi-mortal hooves out of a situation that could turn sticky, perhaps that lesson isn't yet due."
"Hard pass." Papyrus waved a hoof. "If you've got a magic super camera, turn it on already."
Egdelwonk shrugged, snapped the spokes of his lone bat wing... and a shimmering rectangle poofed into existence, populated with rushing gray static. A few more snaps, and a picture appeared with a twist of color, depth perception and all. It felt more like a portal than a screen.
"That's why I'm asking for records from so long ago," Senescey was saying, speaking to a mare at a desk that looked too small to be the hospital's front one, but was still clearly customer-facing. The lobby around her was empty. "Professor said it's fine to use data this old if we properly anonymize it. And he'll be the judge of that."
The secretary - obviously a student, with a cherry-red coat and horn-rimmed glasses that had 'nerd' written all over them - looked unconvinced. "I told you, I'll need to look up our rules on this. Can't your professor give you a curated data set for this?"
"Maybe if gathering data wasn't supposed to be part of the assignment," Senescey pleaded, playing the role of student worried about her grades to perfection.
Suddenly, a door clicked open, and two ponies emerged: a middle-aged mare in a labcoat, and another student. "Next?" the doctor called as the visibly-relieved student fled the scene.
The secretary nearly dropped her ledger in her haste to open it, glancing around the empty room. "Umm, umm, we had... Moonbeam scheduled for an ultrasound, but she hasn't checked in yet? You're ten minutes ahead of schedule, Doctor, so maybe-"
"You're Doctor Meadowglade?" Senescey pushed past the secretary, a pleading expression on her face. "I need historical data on all the patients you saw during the year 985. Just names and reason for visit will do. It's for-"
Meadowglade cut her off with a distracted nod. "Of course. I can have that prepared in fifteen minutes. Your professor didn't give you a requisition slip, I take it?"
Senescey shook her head.
"Professors these days," Meadowglade sighed, pulling out a clipboard with her horn and beginning to write. "At least you remember what to ask for... That's all you need, names and reason for visit?"
Senescey nodded. "For the gynecology department specifically."
"We don't have the data that pared down," Meadowglade warned. "You'll have to take the full set and extract what you want yourself, unless you can give us two business days to do it for you. Is a paper copy fine?"
Senescey nodded. "Perfectly."
The secretary was looking on in annoyance. "Are we really allowed to just hand this out to anyone who asks?"
Meadowglade gave her a weird look. "This is a school hospital. Everyone who comes here signs a waiver that their information may be used for training Equestria's next generation of doctors? Including you?"
The secretary looked deeply embarrassed.
Meadowglade shook her head, motioning for Senescey to follow her down a hallway. "Honestly, we just had a class here to view a live operation last week... Come with me, information from that year will be in the archive. So, are you new to the field?"
She walked with the hurried stride of someone who was clearly a professional, yet lived every day knowing that ponies' safety depended on her haste, and Senescey had to run to keep up. "Considering switching majors," Senescey explained. "I haven't committed yet, but material sciences weren't working out, and I have a steady hoof and a high tolerance for blood."
"That'll serve you well," Meadowglade said, turning and fishing a ring of keys out of her pocket, which she used to unlock a nondescript metal door. Inside was a copy room with dozens of filing cabinets, boxes of paper, and copy machines. "Does gynecology in particular interest you, or are you exploring the nursing track in general?"
"I haven't decided yet," Senescey admitted as Meadowglade tracked down the right filing cabinet and used another key to unlock the drawer. "You're an ob-gyn, right? What helped you decide?"
"I was involved in an accident while I was in school here," Meadowglade said as she worked, pulling out several files. "Ugh, this is so disorganized... It had me in and out of the hospital many times while I recovered. Same year you're asking about, actually." She pulled out a thick folder, scanned it, and nodded to herself. "I wound up befriending a mare who was here under long-term commitment for an at-risk pregnancy, which was complicated by other lingering health disorders. Quite the colorful character. She and I bonded over my experience, which she could relate to, to a degree."
She stepped to the copy machines, deftly engaged all three of them, and split up the papers, feeding them in simultaneously to speed up the process. "I took an interest in the field to see if I could help her. Turned out to be something I was very good at."
Senescey's eyes lit up. "Quite the story. I wish I had something like that... No offense to whatever you went through. What was her name?"
"Felicity," Meadowglade said, collating the pages as the copy machines spewed them out.
Outside the screen, Egdelwonk strummed the feathers on his pegasus wing. "My, how convenient."
Papyrus didn't respond.
"And that was this same year?" Senescey asked, not betraying anything more than a student's curiosity with her composure. "Well, that's not what my project is about, but if I see her name go by, I'll think of you."
Meadowglade nodded absently. "Right, this should about do it. Let me staple these for you, I need to get back to see if my next patient has showed up..."
"Busy life, huh?" Senescey joked. "Must be like you're on call twenty-four seven."
"This is the wrong field if you're not prepared for that," Meadowglade warned. "Especially if you're the building's only specialist, like me. Learning in a research hospital is one thing, but working? You have to be a doctor and a teacher, and most just go to the mainland for better work schedules..."
"So what happened to Felicity?" Senescey asked as Meadowglade finished up the paperwork.
Meadowglade stuffed the papers in a folder and handed them to Senescey. "She was enrolled in some sort of witness-protection program. After she gave birth and her health recovered a little, the government helped her move to Manehattan to be closer to some office for that. And that's the last I've heard from her."
"Huh," Senescey said, taking the folder under a wing. "You've been a fantastic help, Doctor. I'll be sure to tell my professor to give out those requisition slips next time. Can I find my way out of here, or...?"
Meadowglade pointed at the door and angled her hoof. "Take a right, and you'll be back where we started. That has been, what, three minutes? Here's hoping nothing literally caught on fire while I was gone..."
Egdelwonk let the screen disappear in a cloud of purple smoke. He raised an eyebrow.
"I knew her," Papyrus said.
"What Papyrus talking about?" Braen asked, tilting her head.
"I knew her," Papyrus repeated. "Held that mare's hopes and dreams in my hooves for the briefest of instants. Saw them all laid out like a canvas, in their entirety. Back when I was a god..."
Egdelwonk said nothing.
"...Eh. Philosophy doesn't suit me," Papyrus declared, kicking the mess of questions he could have given voice to back into the recesses of his mind, along with the rest of the mess he had inherited from his past life. "Besides, this works out for our goals nicely. Who would have thought someone who actually knew the old goat would just tell us about her on a whim?"
"That does tend to happen more often when one is able to put on a facade of normalcy instead of eccentricity and insanity," Egdelwonk remarked. "Not that I'd know, of course, but when has the Dumpster Deacon ever needed to do research? All the information I'd ever need, people throw away for free."
Papyrus rolled his eyes just as Senescey walked out the hospital front door, the folder of data still clutched under her wing.
"That," she declared, marching up to Papyrus, "was more productive than it had any right to be. Felicity is enrolled in a witness-protection program in Manehattan. That's more than enough information for us to move on, and I doubt we can find anything else of use on this island."
"Figures," Papyrus yawned. "I knew you could do it. Been spying on you with his help the whole time, if you want to skip the briefing." He pointed over his shoulder at Egdelwonk.
"Of course you were," Senescey griped. "Better than you following me, I suppose. I don't think I could have pulled off that disguise if I was answering for your lack of self-control at the same time. Do you have any use for this?" She thrust the folder at him. "I doubt we need it to get to our next destination, but I doubt I can get it back so easily if we throw it away."
Papyrus took the folder and skimmed its contents eagerly, though it was mostly charts and tables filled with gibberish medical shorthand. "Well, most of the cases in here probably amount to the grave misfortune of students who didn't take their precautions seriously, and everyone loves watching others get what's coming to them, right? We could use it for entertainment."
Senescey snatched it back. "On second thought, I'll hang onto this, thank you very much." She raised an eyebrow at Egdelwonk. "Manehattan. Somewhere within walking distance of the government buildings, a police station, or anywhere else that might be involved in witness protection programs. Can we get a ride, or is this the part where you strand us and run off cackling?"
Egdelwonk massaged his goatee with a wing. "Well, you haven't exactly explored your options thoroughly, but Papyrus is getting reported to the authorities as we speak for bizarre conduct... I suppose I could pick up Larceny and then give you all a free trash teleport. But the next big jump you make is on your own power, no ifs, ands or buts. Do we have an accord?"
Senescey frowned. "Throw in a promise that you'll warn me first every time you help Papyrus spy on me from now on, and take a hike if I say it's a bad time. If I'm going to give my all for this partnership, I need privacy sometimes in return."
"Mmm, you drive a hard bargain," Egdelwonk mused. "I think I'm going to need one act of petty vandalism before we go if I'm to agree to that."
Senescey glanced around to ensure no passers-by were looking, then tipped over the trash can, spewing rubbish all across the sidewalk.
Egdelwonk clapped his forehooves. "A mare after my own heart. Even though you technically just took my private property and carelessly returned it to the masses. For shame. Next stop, picking up Larceny from whatever rooftop you stranded her on, real next step, Manehattan!"
He struck a pose, motioning for everyone to enter the tipped-over can. Braen did so eagerly, Senescey followed stiffly, and Egdelwonk motioned for Papyrus to bring up the rear.
Papyrus stopped, glancing up at the hospital one last time. Meadowglade. Starlight. Gwendolyn. That overpowering, suffocating sense of confusion, as if the world his senses showed him didn't match up with any possible state the world could be in, and behind it, an overwhelming, all-consuming clarity, as if it had all been reduced to a single, terrible truth.
There were other places like that on this island. Places he wouldn't be visiting by leaving now.
Was going back to the Griffon Empire really such a smart idea if he wasn't ready to face those? Surely, the Empire would have places like those too.
He shook his head. The point of this was to write a new chapter for himself rather than being defined by the old ones, no? So the old ones didn't matter. He could leave them behind, where they belonged.
Papyrus stepped into the trash can, and Kinmari was gone.